Dianne Thompson, CEO of Camelot, the company that runs the UK’s National Lottery, has come under fire for stating a blindingly obvious truth: that customers who buy a ticket have the slimmest of chances of winning the jackpot. And for that, she has been pilloried by the press.

The remark – that players of the recently renamed and relaunched game “would be lucky to win a tenner” (£10, or $13.98) is quite true – the odds against winning are roughly 14 million to one.

But Camelot claim that Ms Thompson’s remarks have been taken out of context. Thompson made the remark as she spoke to a marketing conference about how best to promote the newly named Lotto, which used to have a slogan of “It could be you”. Thompson told the Birmingham post: 'Eight years later people have realised that though it could be you, it probably won't be. You would be lucky to win a tenner.'

She said the slogan 'It Could Be You' had given bettors false hope, and that making the lottery more fun was the way to reverse bad sales.

The slogan for the renamed Lotto is now: “Don’t’ live a little, live a Lotto.” Meanwhile, Camelot has denied rumours that it intends to raise the price of a ticket from £1 – a price that has remained the same since the Lottery’s inception eight years ago.